Disclaimer: It's a new chapter, in the lives of my counterpart, Izuna, and the entire TWBTS gang. This is Monika once again, and let's all witness the official start of the School Pandemonium Arc!
Oh and DaMastah101 doesn't own DDLC like I keep on saying in these disclaimers.
#######
Just Monika - Regular text
"Forever Sayori" - Spoken words/Dialogue
'Knife Wife Yuri' - Thoughts
{Buff Natsuki} - Text or audio displayed on-screen or by speaker, be it from a computer/smartphone/TV
"Maybe there are copies of me on countless world lines. Maybe all their minds are connected, forming a single 'me'. That sounds wonderful, don't you think? Being in all times and in all places. A strong love for someone... a strong belief in something... a strong desire to convey something... If all those things go beyond time to create 'you', then that would be magnificent. So don't think of it as letting me die. Even if the world line changes, as long as you don't forget me, I'll always be there. I'm sure that from now on you're going to suffer. You'll be in a world where no one but you remembers me. You care more about your friends than anything else, so I think it's going to be painful for you. I'm so sorry. But that pain will mean a lot to me. Whenever you're sitting around in the lab, whenever you sip a drink, whenever you walk around town... it doesn't have to be every time - one time out of a hundred is fine. All I ask is that you remember me ... because I'll be there. I'll always be there."
-Kurisu Makise
From the Visual Novel and Anime series, Steins;Gate.
[Chapter 15 - Infinite Choices]
"A lot of things have happened lately, but I wouldn't change any of it." he wistfully says to himself while staring out into the orange-stained afternoon sky from his rooftop.
Right now, it was only him and the nice view of the gradually setting sun in front of him atop one of the many rooftops that filled his neighborhood. And thus, he had a lot of time to reflect on all that's happened so far.
Everything that happened since a certain video game had changed his life forever. Only several months have passed, but it felt like it was already years to him.
At present it was the year 2018, in the Republic of Lightpoint.
To simplify things a bit, shortening the place's name as "Lightpoint" would do. Lightpoint was the independent sovereign nation that Horizon City, was a part of. Horizon City of course, being where the boy currently resided in.
The Republic of Lightpoint was a nation of various cultures and people of different backgrounds and origins. It didn't matter which country you had originally came from prior. The republic welcomed all from various walks of life, as long as you weren't a wanted terrorist or anything of the sort. It remained relatively peaceful, and corruption was kept to a minimum, if any.
Many wandering families have found and made their home in the nation, renouncing their old nationalities and becoming citizens of Lightpoint.
The thing about Lightpoint, was that it had some of the brightest minds in the world.
Proof of this is in the landscape itself. Rougly 80% of it's entire landscape was man-made via reclaimed land. The remaining 20% happened to be preexisting patches of land scattered about, that were connected together with the land reclamation project.
In this version of reality parallel to our own, the readers' reality, the Republic of Lightpoint was established 10 years ago, and in a mere decade had grown to become one of the most technoligically advanced countries on the planet.
Multiple former scientists from Japan, South Korea, Great Britain, the United States, and many more were now situated in Lightpoint, one of them being a prominent Japanese researcher in the various sciences.
Masamune Takaya.
Takaya and his colleagues spearheaded several pivotal advancements in Lightpoint's overall structural integrity, such as the availability for mass production of renewable energy. In the past, renewable energy was limited to agricultural and specific cases such as solar panels and windmill-powered apparatuses. But Masamune and his fellow scientists had somehow managed to pioneer the use of better alternatives to generate renewable energy.
Such alternatives including a better way to harness kinetic energy, and even unorthodox sources of fuel souch as sound waves and even the use of abundant yet thought to be useless materials such as fishbones.
All of this led to Lightpoint being ahead of many countries in terms of raw scientific development.
Although, not everything had been stars and glory for them. One such failure having a greater impact than initially thought to not only some of the inhabitants of Lightpoint, but to the entirety of the world itself.
The failed "Heaven's Bridge" project, and what was seemingly its only remnant. A fated lightning current that changed everything in the lives of Izuna and his friends.
It travelled thousands of miles, throughout the various regions and cities of Lightpoint, before managing to make its way into Horizon City, and the rest was history.
Yes, even now, Izuna couldn't believe all of it. How a single lightning bolt had managed to turn his life upside-down for the better, by affecting a game he held dear to his heart.
How he now had new friends, and most of all, he now had his beloved girl by his side.
Even now, everything felt like a dream to him. With his dear friends, Sayori and the rest, being here.
Monika being with him, in his reality.
No, in their reality.
It made his heart swell with so much joy. Even after everything that happened, and after they overcame their initial conflict, as well as the final goodbye to Alter-Monika, Izuna was truly glad to have experienced it all. If there was one thing he could've done differently though, it was the fact that it took him so long before even playing DDLC.
He really should've tried it out the moment Val had initially suggested the game to him.
"I'm so lucky to have her with me right now..." he continued to reflect internally while aimlessly staring at the clouds above him. Everyone else was of doing their own thing, and for some reason he was unable to join them in any said activity. Every once in a while, he'd perform a bit of self-reflection, as is the case right now as he continued to lie down on his rooftop.
And so, he found solace with the fading afternoon sky's splendour. There was one thing that weighed on his mind though.
It was his lack of any special ability or combat prowess whatsoever.
Blank had that developer tablet of his which allowed him to retain some of his powers from the DDLC world. His ability to use Getsuga Tenshos, his swords, and Izuna assumed that the avatar had more things up his sleeve. He probably still had that power he used against Erika too.
And then there was Elyssa Libitina, and her ability to call upon those "Movements of the Cosmos" powers as she called them. It still amazed him how that lady had access to all sorts of special abilities. She even freaking controlled gravity itself with one of these powers, if what he saw the other day when she was talking to that mysterious man named Akami was accurate.
"Maybe one day, I could..." he'd been hesitating for a while now, and with good reason.
Izuna rationalized, that neither Blank or Elyssa had any reason to give help him out with his problem. He couldn't just approach either of them one day and go all "Can you please help me get stronger?" at random. Still, maybe in the future.
Maybe one day, he'd be able to stand up and fight. For the sake of his loved ones. But for now, he had one option that didn't require the involvement of anything supernatural or digitized.
Pulling out his phone, he makes an impromptu phone call to a certain old relative of his.
"Hey gramps, it's me. Izuna. I'm finally giving in and visiting that dojo of yours. I'm *sigh* asking for your help to train me, if possible."
Some coughing could be heard on the other end of the phone's line, before Izuna's grandfather begun a high-strung rant.
{"Excellent! The first time you call me in a while, and it's good news like this! Oh, and what brought this about after all this time, my stubborn grandchild? Did Yumi finally knock some sense into your noggin? You've been avoiding this for years! I bet you're all skin and bones due to lack of exercise, since you keep watching that anime junk you whippersnappers are all so into. Back in my day, we didn't have any of that flinging-flanging television screens! That's why a lot of you youngsters are wearing glasses. You're just lucky that your parents aren't that strict with you. Boy, if I were in charge of disciplining you, we both know that things would be a lot different. Come over here as soon as possible, I need to get you into shape, Izuna my boy!"}
Izuna lets out an annoyed sigh at the earful he had just received. "Yeah yeah old man, let's just say some stuff came up. I'm going to need all the help I can get."
*****The World Beyond The Screen*****
I woke up, surrounded by nothing but pitch-black darkness for as far as my eyes could see.
It reminded me a lot about the spatial void inside DDLC, whenever the game was put into any sort of standby or wasn't being played.
Oddly enough though, it appeared that I was standing on top of a lengthy pathway. I tried to see where it led up to, but the mysterious pathway appeared to go on far beyond what I can see, into more darkness from beyond.
"Should I... start walking on it?"
I had nothing much to lose anyway. Considering what had just happened to me before I woke up in this empty chasm, I wasn't supposed to exist anymore. They were happy now, and nobody needed to be concerned about me anymore.
The entity that I formerly was in Izuna's reality, had no reason to even be present in any world at the moment. I've even said my final goodbye to my beloved, and I was fully prepared to fade into nothingness.
And yet, I appeared here inside this blank plane of existence. This was neither the player's reality, nor the inside world of Doki Doki Literature Club.
"I shouldn't bother Izuna and Monika, and let them be. They deserve happiness."
But yet, my curiosity burned deep at this pathway. At this place. At wherever the heck I currently was after supposedly leaving the mortal realm. Obviously, I'm still very much alive. Somehow, with my memories intact as well.
"Maybe..."
If I let my feet take me forward, would something happen?
Am I about to be thrust into another world? Another place in time and space? What was waiting for me at the end of this long road? Would it not be more prudent to merely stay here in the dark, forgotten?
And yet, I walked. Deep inside me, it felt like I had to do this.
Towards this unknown path that had an uncertain destination. I continued walking, while doing the best I could to make sense of where it was taking me. For it seemed that with each ten steps I made, the length of the remaining path in front of me doubled.
It was like the road really wasn't going to end, ever.
Was this some sort of test from God? Am I overthinking all of this? Why is there a road in this blank space that stretched on forever? And I still don't know why I'm here in the first place instead of, well, being dead!
An hour later, at least by my own estimate since there were no clocks in this place, I was still walking on this mysterious pathway that had no end in sight.
But now, my surroundings were a bit different. I took in the change in scenery before me. The perpetual darkness had gruadally eased into pure white. A literally 180-degree change from all black to all white.
"At least it's bright now..." I muttered with a sigh.
This proved one thing however.
It meant that the pathway did in fact, lead to somewhere. There was a sense of "location" in this place, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to reach this white area after the black one.
"I should keep walking then."
As weird as it sounded, this long pathway filled me with determination. For I was still very much determined and eager to find out what was lying ahead of this road.
I was filled with determination.
It was like at this very moment, I had the most determination out of all, and that determination had given me... the power to save.
To save myself from this fate, and it might've been the reason why my soul persisted after my supposed death. Although I was originally a digital entity, I now had the power of a human soul.
All of this, also filled me with determination. And so, I kept walking to an uncertain future, fully determined while doing so. Wherever this path may take me, I will fully face it head on.
As for who I am, it should be clear right now, but if it isn't...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...I'm an alternate Monika. The Monika from Izuna Takaya's first-run.
Alter-Monika.
-Chapter 15 END-
A/N: Welcome, to the start of a new arc. Yes I know it was extremely short, but bear with me please. Oh and the next chapter may be delayed a bit for the following reasons.
1. I'm ironing out certain scenes in it. Originally they were going to be a part of this chapter, but I decided that the first chapter should be a short introductory one, this allows me to flesh out the following proper chapter.
2. I'm STILL so behind on my fanfic-reading backlog. Thank you anime for hindering me on my reading. There's too many goddamn good shows and awaited sequels. Toaru Majutsu no Index Season 3, Fairy Tail Series 3, Sword Art Online -Alicization-, the works! Goddamn it man.
I really need to finish my reading backlog first, the most notable ones in the DDLC fandom at least being "LOVEchr", "Beyond the Monitor's Grave: The Redux of a Lifetime!", "Welcome to Reality" and "Forever Mine" to name a few.
Heck, I need to read my buddy jojoDO's King of Fighters fanfic, "King of Fighters: Ultimate Grand Dream Kumite" already!
UGH. BEING A READER AND WRITER AT THE SAME TIME IS HARD AS HELL.
3. I'm actually doing a read-over of my older chapters to make sure that I don't write any stuff that conflicts with what I've already established. For example, I was originally gonna write a scene with Blank erecting a forcefield, but then I remembered his damn developer window was now a nerfed developer tablet. So yeah.
Anyways, rant over. See you all in the next chapter, and thanks for still sticking around. We've got more exciting stuff in store! And let's see how many people understood the "determination" thing lol.